1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a thermoplastic packaging bag having a carrying handle and relates specifically to a packaging bag having a separate carrying handle, such that when a product is placed inside of the bag and the bag closed, the handle is securely attached to the product-containing bag.
2. Description of the Related Art
An accepted method of packaging food and non-food articles such as whole muscle meat products, brick cheese, poultry, toys and the like is through the use of thermoplastic bags which may be heat shrinkable bags, or may be non-heat-shrinkable bags.
In the instance of heat shrinkable thermoplastic bags, the processor loads the article into the bag and evacuates the bag to collapse it about the product. The bag is closed while in its evacuated condition by gathering the open end and clipping or by leaving flat and heat sealing. The sealed bag is then passed through a hot water bath or hot air tunnel or other method of heating to shrink the sealed bag about the product. Shrinking the bag in this fashion closely conforms the bag to the contour of the package. With nonshrinkable bags, packaging is similar, except, of course, there is no shrinking step and generally the bag is not evacuated.
A problem related to packaging large heavy items such as turkeys and the like, particularly vacuum packaging in shrink bags, is that the resulting packaged product is bulky, relatively heavy, usually frozen, and difficult to grasp and lift manually. Thus providing a carrying handle to facilitate handling the vacuum packaged product is desirable. For this purpose several different methods of providing a carrying handle have been developed. A separate handle may be attached to the packaged product 30 the top open mouth such as handle 30 in U.S. Pat. No. 3,549,085 (Hart, assignor to W. R. Grace). An integral handle may be produced by cutting a cut out in the gathered flap portion of the bag and reinforcing the periphery of the cut out with a grommet to inhibit tear initiation under during carrying or hanging. All of these methods of providing a carrying handle do not solve the problem of the plastic handle ripping, which increases the risk of dropping the product. For instance, ripping could mean the separate handle of '085 could come off the bag. Of course, handle bags for small items and for non-shrink packaging are also desirable.
Often, the handle is formed integral with the bag to avoid the added expense and processing steps of attaching a separate handle to the packaged product. However, an integral handle may require additional material reinforcing devices and the consequent additional processing steps in packaging the product. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,735 (Odabashian), at lines 5-9, the portion with the hole for creating a handle to hang the bag has reinforcing strip 5.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,026 (Weinberg et al.) discloses a shrink bag with an integral handle forming portion. The bag is an "extended lip bag" wherein one panel extends beyond the bag open mouth end. As disclosed in this patent, the handle is formed in the extended lip portion by punching a hot die through the lip to provide an opening having a heat seal extending continuously about the opening. This patent also discloses an integral handle wherein both bag panels extend past the product holding area of the bag. The handle is then formed in this dual panel extended lip portion by punching a hot die through the lip to provide an opening having a heat seal extending continuously about the handle opening. When this method is used to produce the integral handle, a slit in one panel of the bag below the fused handle area is required to allow for the product to be placed therein. In either method upon heat shrinking, the extended lip thickens and forms a handle which protrudes longitudinally from the resulting package.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,553 (Kupcikevicius, assignor to Viskase) discloses a shrink bag having an integral handle forming portion. The bag is also a so called "extended lip bag" wherein the bag is shaped to receive a turkey in a tail first entry mode and the extended lip portion which has a slit that forms the integral handle is located at the tail end of the package. However, the industry practice of packaging turkeys and other poultry with their wings folded and positioned against the sides of the breast area prevents easy loading of the bird into a bag in a tail first manner. Additionally, breast first loading allows the protective skin flap over the neck bone to remain in position to help prevent bag damage by this sharp neck bone. As a result, commercial packing of turkeys and other poultry is done in a breast first loading orientation. The teaching requires that the handle so formed is drawn to the package closed bottom seal area, preferably over the packaged product itself and does not extend away from the packaged product to allow for easy package pick up by the integral handle. This patent also does not appreciate the advantageous instant handle securely attached to the bag which distributes handle stress more evenly and substantially reduces tearing of the handle of the shrink bag film.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,968 (Mandus et al.) discloses a thermoplastic bag with a handle hole and narrow lugs having holes therein. The narrow lugs may be at either end of the bag to allow it to be suspended for filling. Bags of this type are useful for packaging baby diapers for example. Likewise U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,996 (Sengewald), discloses a plastic pouch having pin holes at one end of the pouch to allow it to be suspended for filling. Examples of products suitable for packaging include baby diapers and bread- Neither of these patents appreciates the novel handle of the present invention, nor does it address the problem of load stress on the bag handle during transportation of a heavy product.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,837 (Spiegel and Miller) shows a display package with a loop section and a head section, and an opening in the head section to form a handle hanging hole. U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,267 (Kent and Wood, assignors to W. R. Grace) shows a separate handle 8 attached via side seals to side-sealed bag 9.
The disclosures of all the above-mentioned patents are incorporated herein by reference.